How You Can Help Protect Rights That Need Defending Now

If you're trying to figure out what to do with yourself now that the election is finally over, you're not alone. You're also in luck: There are countless problems and challenges facing every community in the country right now, at this minute, and they'd exist no matter who takes the oath of office on January 20.

Whether you're interested in protecting reproductive rights, fighting discrimination against trans people, expanding options for survivors of sexual and domestic violence, or providing help to families fighting deportation back to countries scarred by civil wars and gangs, there are organizations you can donate to and volunteer for. We've compiled a list of several that are worth your time and money.

Center on American-Islamic Relations: Within hours of Trump's election, there had been multiple reports of hate crimes against Muslim women. CAIR works on both the national and the local level to combat Islamophobia and help Muslims in the U.S. who are victims of it.

Campaign Zero: Police violence is real, and there are many different ways you can work to make communities safer without increasing danger to the people who live in them.

American Immigration Lawyers Association: Donald Trump spent his entire campaign calling for a wall between Mexico and the United States, threatening a ban on Muslim immigrants, and suggesting that Syrian refugees are terrorists in waiting. Even now, people are being deported at a staggering pace under the Obama administration, and most of them don't have legal representation during their hearings. You can find groups that do work in your home communities through AILA.

Third Wave Fund: Third Wave Fund helps fund groups primarily led by and for young, queer people of color. They give money to a variety of different grantees, but its Mobilize Power Fund is specifically for groups that need money for direct action like protests, legal defense, bail, and other forms of community organizing.

Showing Up For Racial Justice: If you woke up on Wednesday wondering how a majority of white men and women voted for Donald Trump, consider this group. SURJ is dedicated to creating a network that can offer support to racial justice activism around the country.

Sacred Stone Legal Defense Fund: As the Sacred Stone Camp's fundraising page says, "The Camp of the Sacred Stones is a spiritual and cultural camp on the Standing Rock Reservation resisting the Dakota Access oil pipeline thru non-violent direct action." The protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline show no sign of stopping, and the water defenders still camping on native lands are preparing for winter. You can donate money for camp supplies here.

Children's Defense Fund: Hillary Clinton worked at the Children's Defense Fund. It still exists and its staff is still fighting to protect children and create opportunities for them to succeed, regardless of their backgrounds.

NAACP: The NAACP of North Carolina was instrumental in organizing massive protests over laws that decimated voting rights, pushing back against a law that would strip trans people of civil rights protections, and defending protesters after they were arrested during peaceful demonstrations. Find your local chapter to find out what is happening in your community.

Reproductive Rights Groups: There are so many to choose from. Donate to Planned Parenthood or the Center for Reproductive Rights, or if you're looking to give support to a community of women that is already suffering disproportionately under current abortion restrictions, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health.

American Civil Liberties Union: The ACLU works on enough different issues and in enough different environments that you'll be able to find an issue—from sentencing reform to anti-LGBTQ discrimination to mass incarceration to national security to immigration—that you want to support. National Coalition for the Homeless: Homelessness has been on the rise overall, but the young LGBTQ community is at especially high risk. You can and should donate to any group that works with LGBTQ young people in your own communities.

Ali Forney Center: If you're in the New York area or are worried about LGBTQ teen homelessness in urban areas, consider giving to the Ali Forney Center, which was named after a gender non-conforming teen who became homeless at 13 and worked tirelessly to help offer resources for homeless youth.

Safe Horizon: Safe Horizon works to support survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Consider volunteering at a domestic violence hotline or donating to a domestic violence support network in your own community.

Your Local Rape Crisis Center: Volunteer for the hotline, donate to survivor support groups, find out what local laws say about how rapes are investigated and prosecuted.

When in doubt, think locally. There is almost certainly a homeless shelter, food pantry, or women's health clinic that needs support in your own backyard.